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Friday, May 27, 2011

No more Polyester Pam

So what's the beauty of virtual sailing? First of all it is great fun. There are weekly races in several classes; Classic boats and more modern types. Pick your potion. Besides, it's great to be able to race during winter. Even in the summer it's great. Fancy a quickie? Pop in and run three or four up/down courses in 45 minutes. Check here for a video of fleet race in the Q2m. The racing is great fun.

Me and my QSM40 looking for a mooring spot?

Then there's the exploring. There are many virtual places to sail. Some of these are breathtakingly beautiful. My all time favourite was Tranquility Island. Sadly it is not there anymore, so now I am looking for a new secret spot. It never stops to amaze me how much beauty there can be in a virtual world. Above you see me in the virtual sunset looking for remote islands.

Sunset on the beautiful Seagull Islands

Found a mooring spot, so here I am exploring the remote Seagull islands. If you like flowers, trees, the ambiance of birds, bees and ocean waves hitting the shore, then this is it. The feeling of exploring your own remote island is definately there. It is almost as good as the Sweedish Archipelago around Göteborg to mention a real thing I know quite well. This is all very good, but back to the sailing...

The T-1, the virtual IOD

Imagine having a classic boat as shown above, the T-One. Ohh, the work. Each spring. Sanding and painting, sanding and painting. No wonder plastic boats caught on. Now imagine the work after a collision. There's a good reason to prefer wooden boats. The poisonous styrene. However, most people race in - and therefore collide in - fiberglass boats. Ahh, the sweet smell of styrene. Just the thought of it makes me dizzy; And then there's the itch from all those broken fibers. And the building of complex shapes in polystyrene. Yeah, I love to work with fiberglass. In a virtual world, we never have to repair the boats. There is no paintjobs, no barnacles to be scraped off, and there is no need to master the art of fiberglass... It like that. I like it a lot. Say goodbye to styrene; Say goodbye to Polyester Pam.